@azaer First of all, Russian Baltic Fleet only has 55 vessels, while a lot it's not enough to overpower the coastal defenses of any Nordic nation, so an amphibious invasion is not realistic, most likely the fleet would be used in attempt to blockade Nordic countries.
Nuclear war is just an idiotic argument since use of a nuclear bomb anywhere in Europe would 100% lead to NATO intervention and nukes on Russian soil.
With those two in mind Finland does act as a buffer that protects rest of the Nordic countries from possible Russian military action. In any war scenario Finland has to be dealt with before Sweden, Norway or Denmark are under any real threat of invasion.
I'm quite sick of hearing the "mimimi Finns lost more territory to the Soviets because they were too stupid to give up their land right away" argument. Mostly because it shows a clear lack of historical knowledge. The territory that Russians demanded on the Karelian Isthmus was the land where all Finnish military fortifications were, also at the time Viipuri was the second biggest Finnish city. There was no way any nation would have accepted those demands right away. Especially since British, French AND Swedes were sending positive signals they would aid Finland in the war.
Also giving up the territory that Soviets demanded would have most likely still led to a Soviet invasion (this time without any fortifications for them to fight through) considering this was the tactic Hitler had used to annex Czechoslovakia just over a year earlier, and considering the way Winter War began with Soviets faking a Finnish bombardment.
Finland did end up losing the Winter War, however Finnish army had not been defeated, but it had lost it's key defensive lines. That made defense of the country unfeasible in the long run, so the government sued for peace. What makes this different from the Japanese and German defeats in WW2 is that Finnish government never surrendered unconditionally like Germany and Japan. Finnish government always made peace before total defeat. In that way it can be claimed that while Finland has lost wars, its army has never been completely defeated.
P.S Sorry for long post, but this subject is close to my heart.
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@azaer First of all, Russian Baltic Fleet only has 55 vessels, while a lot it's not enough to overpower the coastal defenses of any Nordic nation, so an amphibious invasion is not realistic, most likely the fleet would be used in attempt to blockade Nordic countries.
Nuclear war is just an idiotic argument since use of a nuclear bomb anywhere in Europe would 100% lead to NATO intervention and nukes on Russian soil.
With those two in mind Finland does act as a buffer that protects rest of the Nordic countries from possible Russian military action. In any war scenario Finland has to be dealt with before Sweden, Norway or Denmark are under any real threat of invasion.
I'm quite sick of hearing the "mimimi Finns lost more territory to the Soviets because they were too stupid to give up their land right away" argument. Mostly because it shows a clear lack of historical knowledge. The territory that Russians demanded on the Karelian Isthmus was the land where all Finnish military fortifications were, also at the time Viipuri was the second biggest Finnish city. There was no way any nation would have accepted those demands right away. Especially since British, French AND Swedes were sending positive signals they would aid Finland in the war.
Also giving up the territory that Soviets demanded would have most likely still led to a Soviet invasion (this time without any fortifications for them to fight through) considering this was the tactic Hitler had used to annex Czechoslovakia just over a year earlier, and considering the way Winter War began with Soviets faking a Finnish bombardment.
Finland did end up losing the Winter War, however Finnish army had not been defeated, but it had lost it's key defensive lines. That made defense of the country unfeasible in the long run, so the government sued for peace. What makes this different from the Japanese and German defeats in WW2 is that Finnish government never surrendered unconditionally like Germany and Japan. Finnish government always made peace before total defeat. In that way it can be claimed that while Finland has lost wars, its army has never been completely defeated.
P.S Sorry for long post, but this subject is close to my heart.